Lessons learned from pandemic in adaptability, resiliency

Author: David Dorsey, Gulfshore Business
Published: Updated:

In some ways it’s difficult to believe that this month marks five years since the COVID-19 pandemic first made its impact felt across the globe.

Southwest Florida, like just about everywhere else on the planet, went into quarantine in March 2020, with restaurants, entertainment venues, many businesses and public spaces including beaches closing to help prevent spread of the deadly virus. They reopened — those that did manage to reopen — on varying timelines, with most being at least partially active by the end of the first year of the pandemic, as factors such as masking, social distancing and the advent of different vaccines combined to help reduce the spread of the virus.

Health care systems and providers were strained to the breaking point as the number of cases, and the number of deaths, continued to grow. Tourism tanked, and real estate prices skyrocketed as people from other states moved to “the free state of Florida.”

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